Well plug



Mar. 13, 192.3.v

m g LI 1 l. .,H n @lf/HW l R/VY J. G. ROBINSON.

' WELL PLUG.

FILED APR.20. 1920.

Patented Mar. 13, 192e.

JOHN G. ROBINSON, 0F ELIDOPMADO, KAiNSAS.

WELL PLUG.

Application filed April 20, 1920. Serial NO. 375,184.

To all whomy t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN G. ROBINSON a citizen of the United States, residing at ldorado, in the county of Butler and State of -Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Well Plugs; and I do declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference'being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures or' reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification. v

This invention relates to plugs and packers for wells and particularly to means for plugging oii the water below the gas or Oil sands in the well.

Not infrequently the drilling tools penetrate the oil or gas sands and open up a stratum' below them which admits water into the bottom of the well and by rising above the gas or oil stratum, the water drowns out the well or otherwise renders it objectionable as a producer.

Attempts have been made to plug or pack the bottom of the well to shut off the incoming water but considerable difficulty has been experienced in laccomplishing the desired result due to the peculiar conditions under which the plugging or packing must be accomplished. For example, the bottom of the well may be many hundred feet below the ground and the side of the well adjacent to the water stratum may have cavities in it into which the sides of sectional packers may tilt and thereby render the packer inetcient for the purpose intended.

It is understood, of course, that the packer should initially be of less diameter than that which it is to assume when it is in packing position, this being necessary in order to introduce it through the casing and into the bottom of the well adjacent to the sands.

I have provided a packer or plugvwhich will have an initial diameter suiiiciently less than the inner diameter ot the casing so that it may be readily introduced into the well and located in the bottom thereof, and then expanded so that it will uniformly press against the surrounding wall and when the packer is in place, it will have a uniform, solid cross section from end to end and liability of water seeping` through the joints will be eliminated. I have so constructed the plug of telescopic sections that radial displacement of the longitudinally telescopic sides will be 4prevented but free longitudinal movement of the sides will be permitted in Vorder to render the plug ei'lective.

In the drawings,

Fig. I `is a longitudinal, sectional view through a well casing, showing the plug be-y ing lowered into position. n

Fig. II is a sectional `view through the bottom of the well, showing the plug with the telescopicfsides moving into packing position. l j f Fig. III is la similar view/,showing the plug in its final position to pack the well.

Fig. IV is aifragmientary, perspective view of the plug, showing the core with the outer blocks in extended position.

Fig. V is a cross sectional view on the line V-V of Fig. I.

Fig. VI is a cross `sectional view on the line VI-VI oi Fig. III, and c Fig. VII is a cross sectional view on the line VII-VII of Fig.y III.

The plug is shown as consisting of a pyramidal core 1, rectangular in cross section and tapering fromthe base toward the top.

The core is provided with side faces 2, 3, 4,

and 5 in which are longitudinal, doveetailed grooves 6 to receive dove-tailed guides or ribs for longitudinally slidable blocks or surface members associated with the core. The blocks or surface members are shown as consisting of pairs of blocks 7-7 and 8-8.

The ribs 7 for the members 7-7 may be rigidly fastened inthe core l since the members 7-7 do not'slide longitudinally beyond the upper end of the core-1; however,`the ribs or guides 8 are extensible longitudinally of the core to project a considerable distance beyond the upper end thereof so that the sides or blocks 8-8 may be extended bodily beyond the end of the core l and project a considerable distance beyond the upper ends of the members 7 when the members 7 are extended, this being' apparent by reference to Figs. I and IV.

Since the blocks or members Zand 8 are i 26 through which it is passed.,

The members 7 7 and 8 8 are provided with segmental outer faces and fiat inner faces, the segmental outer faces of the four members combining to form a cylindrical plug of uniform cross sectional area from end to end and since their flat faces intimately bear against the flat sides of the pyramidal core, a solid plug is formed when all of the members are telescoped, as shown in Fig. III.

The members A7 7 are wider at the bottoms than at the tops while the members 8 8 are wider at the tops than at the bottoms and by reference to Fig. IV it will be observed that the flat edges 11 of the members 7 7 bear against the flat faces 12 of the members 8 and when the parts are extended, the members 7 7 may be fastened to the top end of the core 1 by nails or pins 18 and after the guides 8 are extended, as shown in Fig. IV, their lower ends may be secured to the top portion of the core 1 by nails or fastening devices 14. This will secure the lower ends of the members 7 to the top end of the core 1 and the lower ends of the guides 8 to the upper end of the core 1. Then after the members 8 8 are extended substantially the full length of the guides 8 with their ends slightly over-lapping, the lower ends of the members 8 may be fastened to the upper ends of the members 7 by fastening devices 14;', driven through the members 8 and into the dat edges of the members 7, as clearly indicated in Fig. IV.

The upper ends Aof the members 8 are secured to a head 15, shown as a cylinder with a Constricted, depending lug 16 extending downwardly between the upper ends of the members 8 8 so that the upper ends of the members 8 8 may be fastened to the lug .16 by fastening devices 17 in order that the upper ends of the members 8 8 mayi be secured rigidly together.

The lower end of the core 1 is provided with a head 18 having a recess 19 to receive the head of a counter-sunk screw 20, which passes through the head 18 and extends into the core 1. The recess 19 is internally threaded, as at 21, to receive the threaded `end 22 of a leg 23 which may consist ot a piece of pipe having at its lower end a foot 24 adapted to contact with the bottom of the well.

When the parts are assembled as shown in Figs. I and IV, the eye 25 on the head 15 may be secured by a flexible connection to a standard tool, as indicated at 26, Fig. II, and with the ordinary well rigging, klowered into the well. Since the parts are extended,

-as shown in Fig. I, the diameter of the plug will be less than the diameterof the casing l/Vhen the device yin the form shown in Fig. I reaches the bottom of the well, the foot 24 will rest thereagainst. Then the well tools may be Lees caused to drop upon the head 15 to impart one or more hammer blows so that the concussion will cause the nails or fastening devices 18, 1/1 and 141 to be torn from their anchorages and the sides 8 will telescope along their guides 8 while the blocks or surface members 7 will telescope along their guides 7 until the members are entirely telescoped, as shown in Fig. III.

The head 15 is preferably made of lead or some ductile material so that as the members 7 and 8 are telescoped on the core or immediately thereafter, the head will be spread over the edges .of the members 7 7 and 8 8, as shown in Fig. III, so that its diameter will be slightly greater than the diameter of the telescoped plug and thereby form a lock to prevent pressure beneath the plug from imparting longitudinal movement thereto.

The downward movements of the members 7 7 and 8 8 will be limited because the head 18 extends beyond the faces of the core 1 to form shoulders 27, against whicl the lower ends of the blocks or members 7 7 and 8 8 may contact. The nails or fasten ing devices 17 will not pull out because the head 15 rests upon the top edges of the members 8 8. Therefore, it will be apparent that there will be no liability of accident due to the use of a device constructed in accordance with the present invention as the parts will remain in co-operating relation at all times and will efficiently pack .the water strata against both lateral and longitudinal flow with respect to the interior of the well. Attention is also called to the fact that the head 18 reinforces the core 1 so that it will not split when being driven into place. It will be obvious that the leg 23 may be of any suitable length to position the plug at the proper point in the well where th packing is to take place.

The core 1 and the members 7 7 and 8 8 may be constructed of separate pieces of wood or they may all be formed from the same block; for example, a round block may be sawed longitudinally to provide the members 8 8 and then sawed at right angles to provide the members 7 7, after which the core 1 and the members 7 7 and 8 8 may be grooved and separate key pieces made to fit in the grooves. With such a construction, the finished plug would be cylindrical of uniform diameter from Aend .to end and have a solid cross section throughout so that there will be no liability of leakage between the joints.

lVhile I have referred to the members 7 7 and 8 8 as having no radial movement, I do not mean that there will not be a slight radial movement of the inclined faces which permits the increased diameter but there will be no relative radial movement of the members 7 7 and 8 8 away from the core.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A plug for wells comprising a so-lid core, and outer longitudinally extensible, solid members about the core, snugly fitting against the sides of the core, the contacting faces of the members and the core being inclined longitudinally in the same direction, and longitudinally slidable guiding keys carried by the core and engaging certain of the solid members whereby they may be exten-ded beyond the end of the core to contract the diameter of the plug.

2. A plug for wells comprising a solid core, outer longitudinally extensible, solid members about the core, snugly fitting against the sides of the core, the contacting faces of the members and the core being inclined longitudinally in the same direction, and dove-tailed ribs longitudinally slidable in corresponding grooves in the core and engaging dovestailed grooves in the solid members.

3. A plug for wells comprising a solid core, alternately xed and extensible longitudinal guides, about the surface of the core, and segmental members mounted on the guides and free to move with respect thereto in a longitudinal direction only, said members having inclined faces to ride on the surface of the core.

4. A plug for wells comprising a pyramidal-shaped, solid core member, guide members fixed with respect to the core, other guide members longitudinally movable with respect to the core, segmental casingforming blocks keyed to the rigid guide members, segmental casing-forming blocks keyed to the movable guide members, temporary fastening devices for securing the blocks on the rigid guide members toy the core, temporary fastening devices for securing the movable guide members in extended position rigidly tothe core, temporary fastening devices for securing the casing-forming blocks on the movable guide members in their extended position temporarily against movement with respect to the complementary casing-forming members, and a head connecting the last named casing-forming members at their upper ends. 5. A plug for wells 'comprising a core having upwardly inclined faces, blocks slidably keyed to said 'core and having faces inclined in the same direction as the faces of the core, certain of said blocks beinL extensible beyond certain of said other locks, a soft metal, spreadable head carried by the last named blocks, said head resting upon the last named blocks and having a lug extending between them, and means for securing the upper ends of the blocks to the lug.

6. A plug for wells comprising a solid core, rectangular in 'cross section, the sides of which are inclined inwardly from the bottom toward the top, outer, longitudinally extensible solid members snugly fitting against the sides of the core, thev contacting faces of the members and the core being inclined longitudinally in the same direc tion, longitudinally slidable guiding keys 4 carried by the core and engaging certain of the solid members whereby they may be extended beyond the end of the core to contract the diameter of the plug, and temporary fastening means for hiolding th'e outer members and guiding keys in their extended positions while the plug is being lowered into the well, the fastening means being rendered ineffective when pressure is exerted against the upper end of the plug to collapse it into functional position.

In testimony whereof I aix my signature.

JOHN G. ROBINSON. 

